Recently, we had a large event going on in my city and while I was aware of the TFR in the beginning of the week I thought it was lifted by the day I went out to fly. The location was a spot I knew really well and have flown before and the B4UFLY app did not show the TFR so I launched and did my thing.
About 20 minutes into the flight I was approached by an undercover police officer and the secret service, they asked me to bring the drone in while leaving it on so they could review my footage. They asked if the app showed the TFR and I told them it had not, I was then questioned for about 30 minutes, they were really cool about it all though. Everything checked out with my Part 107 and they just let me off with a warning.
I then learned that several of my peers got a visit as well, they used Radio ID to track us all. Only one of us got a call from the FAA afterwards and it was because he didn't have his TRUST (let alone a Part 107) and he was told to get it and show proof or be fined $30K.
Just thought I would share the experience, I really should've just looked online for the TFR. Next time I'll pay better attention.
About 20 minutes into the flight I was approached by an undercover police officer and the secret service, they asked me to bring the drone in while leaving it on so they could review my footage. They asked if the app showed the TFR and I told them it had not, I was then questioned for about 30 minutes, they were really cool about it all though. Everything checked out with my Part 107 and they just let me off with a warning.
I then learned that several of my peers got a visit as well, they used Radio ID to track us all. Only one of us got a call from the FAA afterwards and it was because he didn't have his TRUST (let alone a Part 107) and he was told to get it and show proof or be fined $30K.
Just thought I would share the experience, I really should've just looked online for the TFR. Next time I'll pay better attention.